Rising Star
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I find that depending on the agency and person, with time, that people seem to understand understand the process less and less and don’t even know (or care) that what they are asking for is shitty, out of scope, etc. It certainly doesn’t apply to everyone, and a great account person is invaluable, but more and more I feel like they’re just acting as a messenger as opposed to filtering, contributing the agency perspective, or trying to find the balance between agency and client
I think some teams are better than others on this. I’ve definitely worked on teams that just took orders and ones where there was appropriate pushback and give and take.
I’m sorry you’re having this experience. As an account person, I think it’s our responsibility to strengthen and pave the way for creating strong work. Part of that is fostering good relationships with everyone on your internal team and understanding what they do and how much time it takes.
You shouldn’t be exposed to the back-and-forth of fighting for the work most of the time, but if you don’t trust that your account person is actually advocating and upholding the team POV, it may be worth a candid conversation. Can’t speak for all account people, but given that it’s our job to be the glue between teams, I’d want to know.
That said, there are certainly times when we have to choose our battles. Digging our heels in against tedious asks that ultimately won’t kill the work can damage relationships over time. To your point, though, when it’s a battle not worth dying over, it helps to at least acknowledge that it’s an annoying ask or offer to help (ah, the days of staying late at the office and ordering dinner).
Good luck, OP.
Rising Star
Dude (or She Dude) thats all exactly right and as it should be, and its nice of you to take the time to write it. You are, however, at the very last bastion of “how it should be.” (And I hope that means you survived the WK layoffs, so double congrats.) That you have any “fighting back and forth with the client” at all means you have your client’s respect, and that is so precious you dont even know. My client remembers to say thank you, and “we appreciate the work” and BS like “you guys are amazing”....but to them, THEY are making this work. They send changes and changes until its what they (all 4-6 of them, the junior clients too) can find no problem with. Which of course is the definition of mediocrity. Our account people are the messengers. This is how it is now at basically every place that isnt WK. So you are right, but you are also so, so lucky. ❤️
I was always very candid with the creative teams I worked with. I basically did exactly why you stated. Sometime we have to give our clients enough rope to hang themselves with to learn. Or, more so in recent years, I had to identify our own agency leadership’s “wants” as a reason why we (they) needed to do something crappy.
Pro
When I try to do this my directors say I’m being too soft 🙄 so I take it out of emails and IM the team on the side instead
Chief
Bbdo: 100%. When account people think they work for the client and not the agency
My approach is to always present the facts. Saying “sorry” or the like if you haven’t done anything wrong makes it seem like you’re the reason why this bad thing happened. Rather, I think it’s great to keep people informed but no reason to apologize for what the client has asked for. I think there’s an assumption from other departments that we aren’t advocating for them, etc. but in all actuality, the account department really is the only one who is on all the client comms and knows exactly what’s going on. It could (often) be true that your AE has been fighting tooth and nail for you and is completely beaten down, and then you want her/him to apologize for relaying information to you. I think none of us should assume the other doesn’t work hard... or if you’re staying late that I’m not also staying late. We’re a team... we feel the same burdens. Just my perspective! :)
Chief
I’m actually okay with a creative flare up every now and then. Creating great stuff is emotional and personal. When account people don’t get that, it sucks.
It would be different if most of you were actually good at your jobs but most account people are bean counters and meeting makers.
Thank god I have a few good ones now. They make such a difference.
Impossible deadlines and expectations are a part of the job. And hopefully are rare, and not the norm.
But in those situations, I always tell my team - just do the best you can do. If it comes out shit because of the rush, then so be it. Or if we miss the deadline by a day because timing was impossible, then that’s fine too. We’ll figure it out.
But advertising is not worth killing yourself over. It’s just a job, like any another 👍
Rising Star
Someone at your level has the standing to be able to say “if it comes out shit or we miss a deadline, so be it”. The people below you are thinking it’ll lead to strained client relationships, losing the business, and layoffs. Keep that in mind